How to avoid falling into poker traps
How to avoid falling into traps The Two Enemies of the Shark Ok so you are a shark (winning player) or becoming one (remember to play alot, only experience together with reading will work). Will you always make money every day? No! Two factors will HOLD you from it and in order to minimize these factors you should do the following: Factor A: BAD BEATS/BAD STREAK: This happens to ALL players. People outdrawing you a few pots in a row, or that you won’t hit an Ace or King when holding AK 20 times in a session. Getting horrendous beats on the river. It all happens, and sometimes it can take a while before it starts to look ‘normal’ again. Alot of players, even experts, can’t control themselves and start playing ultra aggressively (TILTING), even at higher stakes, to earn there ‘well deserved’ money back. I know this feeling, i did it too. And sometimes you really can earn your money back while playing on the 5/10 tables. But let’s look at this from a logic point of view: in this kind of mood, playing on high stakes is very stupid. Not only because you get tougher opponents, but because you will be very IMPATIENT and start to loosen up while they play tight; in the end you ll lose just like the fish at your own tables lose against you. Also, when you don’t hit the high stakes tables but stay at your own table when you are on tilt, your super aggressive game which you are not used to play is giving your opponents a chance to play against a tilting (transformed) maniac: you know what they say about maniacs, they are stupid and lose alot of money most of the time. MY ADVISE: STOP PLAYING FOR A WHILE (i know this is hard but it is the best way). If you can’t do that then HIT THE LOW NO LIMIT TABLES: thats right, instead of going to the higher stakes, you should enter the lower stakes. After a few ridiculous beats or a bad streak i usually sit down at the 0.05/0.10 tables buy myself in for 10 dollars and go all in a few times: sometimes you get called and make a suckout yourself! You laugh very hard in the chat and this MAKES YOU FEEL GOOD AGAIN. It can be very nice to bring someone a bad beat instead of getting one! Factor B: GETTING BORED: this may sound weird but when you play full time or even part time poker (especially cash games) you may get bored: this is even more dangerous than tilting. Boredom makes you want to look for excitment: so you start raising more etc. Or you ll watch some tv which won’t affect your poker play positively at all. My advise again: TAKE A BREAK. Stop playing for a day, or maybe longer until you WANT to play poker again. You are a shark, you get exciting because of making perfect plays, by making disciplined folds and just having a good time. This can only be achieved when you really feel like playing poker. Often you should put some music on, and read a few internet poker forums/websites or even books: it will always focus you to play perfectly and this is what you want. Sometimes people get bored because they won too much over the last few weeks. They have a tendency to throw there money away more easily (for instance playing a rebuy tourney and rebuying alot or playing a high stakes tournament or playing looser in cash games) because ‘they only play with their profits’. This is very stupid and to be ahead of this situation i want you to CASHOUT (WITHDRAW YOUR MONEY) frequently. Just say to yourself: this is the maximum bankroll i would like to have in this pokerroom and everything above you cashout. Whats more lovely than to cashout winnings? Even more true is that you will be playing more disciplined because your bankroll is always the same, so you can’t throw away your money. If you decide to that you have to deposit again and that is something that makes sharks like you and me feel ashamed of themselve, am i right? This article was written by Joris Dekkers, a gambling info expert and website owner of www.yesfreecash.com , www.dominateonlinepoker.com and www.dominatesportsbetting.com